Democrats Are Getting Nervous About Obama's Money Problems

As second quarter fundraising reports start to trickle in, the
Obama campaign is already warning that it may have lost its edge
in the campaign money wars.

Publicly, the campaign has tried to turn its fundraising
disadvantage into a political opportunity, raising the reliable
specters of Karl Rove and the Koch brothers to scare liberal
donors into forking over more cash. On Friday, the President,
basking in the glow of his Obamacare win, called some of his top
2008 donors from Air Force One to beg for more money.

"I’m asking you to meet or exceed what you did in 2008,” Obama
said,
according to the Daily Beast. “Because we’re going
to have to deal with these super PACs in a serious way. And if we
don’t, frankly I think the political [scene] is going to be
changed permanently. Because the special interests that are
financing my opponent’s campaign are just going to consolidate
themselves. They’re gonna run Congress and the
White House.”

But even beyond the scare tactics, Democratic strategists
and money men privately told Business
Insider that they are increasingly concerned about
whether their candidate can compete with outside conservative
groups, who are expected to raise a combined $1 billion in their
push to take back the White House.

In interviews with Business Insider, several Democratic
fundraisers outlined several obstacles hampering the Obama's
money-making efforts.

First, Democrats have had difficulty reigniting 2008 enthusiasm
among many supporters, forcing the campaign's finance team to
spend resources finding and cultivating untapped donors.

More problematically, Democrats have struggled to
convince donors that Mitt
Romney is a real threat, especially after this year's
Republican primary circus. According to one Obama
fundraiser, this problem has been compounded by the
campaign's initial chest-thumping over its grassroots fundraising
machine, which lulled big-money donors into a state of
complacency that has been hard to shake.

Still, doomsday warnings about Obama's money problems are
probably exaggerated. Democratic insiders concede that the
fundraising race remains tight, and will likely stay that way
through the general election. But without a liberal Sheldon
Adelson to turn to, the Obama campaign can ill afford to fall
behind.